Ducati Panigale V2 Launch Today Price Power Features Styling More

• It gets the same styling as the larger Panigale V4.
• The 955cc L-twin motor is more powerful than before.
• Small changes to the bike’s steering geometry and setup have made it friendlier to ride.

Ducati is set to launch the Panigale V2 today, its first BS6 bike to hit Indian roads. It has been quite some time since we saw something new from the Bolognese bikemaker. The Panigale V2’s prices will be announced soon but we expect it to be around Rs 15.50 lakh to Rs 16 lakh.

It has been nearly a year since Ducati took the wraps off the Panigale V2, just days before EICMA 2019. The aim was to design a bike that was more in tune with Ducati’s flagship superbike, the Panigale V4. Hence, you see the V2 mimicking the larger Panigale V4 in almost all design aspects. The triangular headlights, the sleek lines and even the air-scoops look similar.

Underneath the new fairing though are the same mechanical elements as the old 959. The 955cc L-twin, however, has been reworked to meet new emission norms. It is now lighter and dishes out 155PS and 104Nm, 5PS and 2Nm more than what it made in its Euro 4/BS4 guise. The six-speeder remains unchanged and comes with a slip-and-assist clutch and a bi-directional quickshifter.

Ducati has been striving to improve the riding experience of its machines with each update receiving better electronic aids. The Panigale V2 gets a 6-axis IMU, a couple of riding modes, lean-sensitive traction control, cornering ABS, and wheelie control. The suite might not be as exhaustive as the Panigale V4’s but rarely does one find so many aids on a motorcycle from this segment.

The monocoque frame has received small tweaks as well. While the suspension units are the same as before (fully-adjustable Showa BPF and Sachs monoshock), they are mounted slightly differently. These small changes have altered the dynamics greatly as the Panigale V2 is a lot easier to manage than the 959. What are the changes? Head on here to read Shumi’s account of the ride experience from Jerez last November.

The Panigale V2 sits between your traditional 600s and litre-class flagships. While it does make more power than the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R, the only 600cc sportbike to grace our shores, its pricing is in the same ballpark as the larger Ninja ZX-10R. But neither the ZX-6R nor the ZX-10R are as sexy as the baby Pani. And hopefully with the new White Rosso livery slated for next year, the sex appeal of the Pani V2 will only be amped up.

from ZigWheels https://ift.tt/32lb4hq